Dispelling Some Myths: ‘Blitzkrieg’ was a ‘thing’

‘Blitzkrieg’ is a compound of two German words whose literal translation means ‘lightning war’ [1]. Military historians have defined ‘Blitzkrieg’ as the employment of the concepts of manoeuvre and combined arms warfare developed in Germany during both the interwar period and the Second World War. The problem is that the word did not enter official terminology of the Wehrmacht either before or during the war. Indeed, pre-war use of the term is rare. Karl-Heinz Frieser researched the origin of the term for his book 'Blitzkrieg Legende' and found only two examples:

• The military Journal ‘Deutsche Wehr’ of 1935 used the term in an article on how states with insufficient food and raw materials supply can win a war.

• Three years later the ‘Militär-Wochenblatt’ of 1938 defined ‘Blitzkrieg’ as a ‘strategic attack’ carried out by operational use of tanks, air force, and airborne troops.

It is true, however, that during the interwar period aircraft and tank technologies had matured and were thus combined with systematic application of the traditional German tactic of Bewegungskrieg (manoeuvre warfare), deep penetration of enemy lines, and the bypassing of enemy strong points to encircle and destroy enemy forces in a Kesselschlacht (‘cauldron battle’). Strategically, the intention was to swiftly effect an adversary's collapse through a short campaign fought by a small, professional army. Operationally, its goal was to use indirect means, such as mobility and shock, to render an adversary's plans irrelevant or impractical. To do this, self-propelled formations of tanks; motorised infantry, engineers, artillery, and ground-attack aircraft operated as a combined-arms unit.

In English  It was first popularised in the English-speaking world by the American news magazine Time describing this form of armoured warfare during the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Published on September 25th, 1939, well into the campaign, the account reads:

‘The battlefront got lost, and with it the illusion that there had ever been a battlefront. For this was no war of occupation, but a war of quick penetration and obliteration - Blitzkrieg, lightning war. Swift columns of tanks and armored trucks had plunged through Poland while bombs raining from the sky heralded their coming. They had sawed off communications, destroyed animals, scattered civilians, spread terror. Working sometimes 30 miles (50 km) ahead of infantry and artillery, they had broken down the Polish defenses before they had time to organize. Then, while the infantry mopped up, they had moved on, to strike again far behind what had been called the front.’

A year later, the term had gained popular traction in the Western media to describe the highly successful German manoeuvre operations in the campaigns of 1939-1941 where ‘Blitzkrieg’ capitalized on surprise penetrations (the penetration of the Ardennes Forest region for example), the Allies’ general unpreparedness and the latter’s inability to match the pace of the German attack.

Despite its common usage by journalists, including in German wartime propaganda itself, the word ‘Blitzkrieg’ was never used by the Wehrmacht [2] as an official military term and was never officially adopted as a concept or doctrine. According to David Reynolds, ‘Hitler himself called the term Blitzkrieg 'A completely idiotic word' (ein ganz blödsinniges Wort)". Johann Adolf von Kielmansegg, a senior officer in the Heer (army), even disputed the idea that it was a military concept. General Kielmansegg asserted that what many regarded as ‘Blitzkrieg’ was nothing more than ‘ad hoc solutions that simply popped out of the prevailing situation’. The Wehrmacht were better trained and motivated to combine Bewegungskrieg (manoeuvre warfare) with Auftragstaktik, in which the commander expressed his goals to subordinates and gave them discretion in how to achieve them. In simple terms, much more authority was delegated to local commanders enabling them to make speedy, executive decisions and thereby increasing the tempo of operations and wrong-footing the enemy.

Popular usage  ‘Blitzkrieg’ has since expanded into multiple meanings in more popular usage. From its original military definition, ‘blitzkrieg’ may be applied to any military operation emphasizing the surprise, speed, or concentration stressed in accounts of the Invasion of Poland. During the war, the Luftwaffe terror bombings of London came to be known as ‘The Blitz’. Similarly, ‘blitz’ has come to describe the rush tactic of American football, the form of chess in which players are allotted very little time and, in law enforcement, a type of fast, ruthless attack on the person.

Endnotes:

1. ‘Blitz’ in German means ‘flash, lightening or thunderbolt’, while ‘krieg’ means ‘war’.

2. 'Die Wehrmacht' was the name given to the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force).

About History: The Who’s Who of Beefeaters

It seems nobody knows for certain why the King’s Body Guard of the Yeoman of the Guard are called ‘Beefeaters’. Over the years various explanations have been offered. Perhaps the term originated in Old English for a servant. One of the Beefeaters’ original roles was to attend the monarch at mealtimes so perhaps the name comes from buffetier, Old French for a type of waiter.

After the battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, the new king, Henry VII, conferred the title of ‘Yeomen of the Guard’ on the men chosen to protect his person. In doing so, Henry was also proclaiming to the people that his body-guard had been selected not from the nobility, but from that class just below them [1] who had proved themselves to be the national strength of the country at home and abroad. The Yeoman of the Guard are, therefore, the oldest of the Royal bodyguards and the oldest military corps in existence in Britain. Today there are 73 Yeomen of the Guard, all of whom are former warrant or non-commissioned officers of the British Armed Forces, who wear a distinctive Tudor-style uniform of red, white and gold symbolic of their origin.

It is thought that the nickname ‘Beefeater’ may reflect that the Yeoman of the Guard received a substantial beef ration from the Tudor king’s table. Much later an Italian visitor to the court of Charles II noted the guardsmen were called ‘beef-eaters’ for this very reason.

People often confuse the Yeoman of the Guard (The Body Guard) with the Yeoman Warders who guard the Tower of London. The reason for this is easily understood as both are popularly known as ‘Beefeaters’, and their ‘State dress’ uniforms are similarly styled. To confuse the matter further, the Yeomen Warders also wear the ceremonial Tudor-style scarlet uniform but only on specific ceremonial occasions and crucially without a cross-belt. The everyday dark blue and red ‘undress’ uniform is the one generally seen being worn by Warders on duty at the Tower of London.

The Yeoman of the Guard, however, are solely headquartered in St James’ Palace and have no duties at The Tower of London. Indeed, most Yeomen have a full time second career outside of The Body Guard. Most also live across the British Isles and are only summoned for duty on Ceremonial Occasions (see box above). 

When wearing their scarlet uniforms, the Yeomen of the Guard can be distinguished by the distinctive cross belt worn from the left shoulder. Originally this belt had a practical function to support the weight of a cumbersome Arquebus [2] when this heavy matchlock firearm was carried.  While the Arquabus has not been fielded since the 1600s, the cross-belt has been retained and is worn with pride. The Yeoman of the Guard also carry a sword, which is never drawn unless to protect the sovereign, and a polearm known as a 'partisan'. The latter’s blued steel head is gilded with the Royal Arms and Royal Cypher and Crown, and is attached to long gilt socket, below which is a large yellow and crimson tassel. The blade is attached to a wood shaft just under 2m long.

References:

BBC History Magazine, November 2022, ‘Q&A’, p. 60.

‘The Royal Family’ website, ‘Yeoman of the Guard’, available online (accessed December 6th, 2022).

‘The King's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard‘ website (2022), available online (accessed December 7th, 2022).

Endnotes:

1. In the social class structure of the 15th century Yeomen were ‘gentlemen just below the rank of esquire.’

2. The muzzle-loading Arquebus, also called Harquebus or Hackbut, was a long, portable smoothbore matchlock gun. Although it was the first gun fired from the shoulder it was generally fired from a support, against which the recoil was transferred from a hook on the gun. Invented in Spain in the mid-15th century, the weapon’s name seems derived from the German Hakenbüchse meaning ‘hooked gun’. The harquebus had an effective range of less than 200 m. It was superseded by the larger musket in the mid-16th century.